Wins Race With Help From Wind

50 mph winds forced officials to cancel the 7th leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Series in Longleat, England on Saturday, September 2nd. Under Red Bull rules, qualifying results become official results in the event a race is cancelled. That means British racer Paul Bonhomme's qualifying run on Friday, the fastest of the group, earns him his first Red Bull race win.

"It's such a shame the race couldn't take place but it would have been impossible under these weather conditions", said Bonhomme, "I'd rather have won it on the day but we've still got San Francisco and Perth so I'll try my best to win there too". The 60,000 disappointed spectators who braved the rain and winds to watch the race probably agree with you Paul!

Red Bull safety regulations set a maximum wind velocity of 28 mph for races. The racers must precisely maneuver around obstacles at high speed while close to the ground -- windy conditions present an unacceptable risk.

Flying his Edge 540, Bonhomme beat rival pilots with a time of 02:31.43. Hungary's Peter Besenyei came in second place with 02:35.39, followed closely by American Kirby Chambliss with 02:35.58.

Official race results are as follows:        

The next race takes place in San Francisco on 7th October.

FMI: www.redbullairrace.com